Opinion: Europe has lost its Western values

When we studied the Declaration of Independence in grade school -- we didn’t call it elementary school then -- the one concept from the preamble we had to memorize above all else was:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I sometimes wonder what percentage of high school graduates could quote that line.

Western values.

The same memorization rule applied to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

Western values.

I believe the ideas expressed above. I sometimes think of them as Mom, the flag and apple pie; God, country and Corps. Like millions of other Americans, I signed up to defend them.

Western values.

Western values as depicted by the artistic director of the Paris Olympics, Thomas Jolly, included an opening scene that featured stars of drag race France at a long table of people, centered by a person with the aura of a halo and appeared to have been inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Jolly denied the scene was inspired by da Vinci’s masterpiece, and did not seem to understand how this scene could be offensive to some people. He further stated, “You will never find in me, or in my work, a desire to mock or denigrate anyone. My aim was to create a ceremony that heals and a ceremony that reconciles, but also a ceremony that reaffirms the values ​​which are those of our Republic of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and absolutely not to mock anyone.”

The Franch have long believed themselves to be leaders in forming new and innovative ideas on culture and values in the Collective West.

As I write this, the European Union has sent a warning letter to X owner Elon Musk reminding him of the bloc’s rules against promoting “harmful content” ahead of Musk’s interview with former President Trump on the social platform.

Europe has gone off the deep end.

European western values?

Include me out. I didn’t sign up for this.

Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:

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